


Diametrically Opposed Foes 2.0

by Flyting



Series: Interrogator!Ben/Hux [3]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ben's Problem Solving Skills Need Work, Gen, Hux Has No Chill, M/M, More snark with these two assholes, Poe Dameron deserves better, hux fights dirty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-04 01:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6636280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyting/pseuds/Flyting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another short, lighter follow-up to <i>Breaking Down Like Fractions</i>. Ben Solo is the Resistance's interrogator of last resort. General Hux is their prized captive. Poe Dameron is too nice to have to deal with these assholes.</p><p>  <i>“This isn’t how the Resistance treats prisoners.” Poe says. “We’ve got to be better than them.”</i></p><p>  <i>“You can untie him if you want.” Ben waves a hand, dismissive. He waits until Poe leans over Hux and Ben hears him rustling around with the knot on the coil of wire he had wrapped around Hux and the chair. “He might bite you, though.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Diametrically Opposed Foes 2.0

Their second go-around, they are interrupted by a knock on the store-room door. It’s light and almost musical. A cheerful, _tap-taptap-tap-tap._

Ben doesn’t need the Force to know exactly who’s on the other side. He ignores it, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

The general is being desperately, almost frantically stubborn today. There's an edge of panic thrumming away in the corners of his mind. He is determined not to lose this round like he did the last. It’s almost charming.

Ben is just beginning to make progress with him. If he lets his momentum slip he may not get it back. The person on the other side of the door can come back later.

The knock comes again, a little more forceful but still bright. It was the kind of over-the-top-cheer of someone who has decided to be stubbornly, willfully optimistic. The knock said, _I know you heard me, but just in case I am going to do it again louder._

“Are you going to get that?” General Hux asks.

Ben glares at him. Hux raises his eyebrows hopefully.

Frowning, Ben reaches out through the Force and slides the door open without taking his eyes off of Hux.

“Oh good, you are in here,” Poe Dameron says as he enters. “Ben, General Organa wants you in the conference room.”

“Can it wait?” he asks, just barely managing not to snap at the man.

The Resistance pilot was Ben’s closest friend. He won that distinction by virtue of being pretty much Ben’s only friend.

No one else had the tenacity to put up with him for long. But the two of them had grown up together, off and on. When they were children, playing together on military bases and re-purposed starships, Dameron had always gone out of his way to include Ben in whatever he was doing.

That was the kind of man he was. Always blindly looking for the best in others. Always taking in strays.

A sizable part of Ben hated Poe Dameron for it. Hated being pitied. Hated that Dameron only cared about Ben because he knew no one else would.

It was outweighed only by the part of him that felt like an ungrateful bastard for thinking that way. He should learn to take what he could get when it came to friendship.

“I don’t think so, buddy. Sounded important,” Dameron answers, half-slouching beside Ben’s chair. Ben drums his fingers on the table. “I’m supposed to wait with our friend here until you get back.”

“Fine.” The legs of the chair scrape against the stone floor as he pushes back more forcefully than was strictly necessary. It’s petty, and it makes him feel childish, which only adds to his irritation.

“Hurry up, _Ben_. Mummy’s waiting.” Hux mocks.

"We'll finish this when I get back." Ben promises.

“… Ben, what happened to his face?” Poe asks flatly, eyeing their prisoner for the first time. He is inspecting the general’s bruises and freshly bloodied nose with disapproval.

“He fell,” Ben says, deadpan.

It wasn’t, technically-speaking, a lie. He was just tactically omitting the detail that he had ‘fallen’ when Ben Force-grabbed his ankle and yanked his feet out from under him. On their way to the storage room, the general had suddenly elbowed him hard in the ribs, forcing Ben back into the wall and trying to bring a knee up between his legs before making a break for it down the empty corridor. If he hadn’t been fighting Ben, it might even have worked. The general had cursed and spit and kicked at him when he used the Force to drag him the rest of the way down the hall on his backside

In the interest of fairness, he omits all of this as well.

“Is that true?” Poe asks Hux. 

Hux watches Ben, eyes narrowed, like he’s some kind of puzzle the general is trying to figure out.

“Yes,” he says finally. “This place seems terribly unsafe. Is there somewhere I can file a report?”

“Right, we’ll get right on that.” Poe says. He circles around behind Hux. “Is there a reason why he’s tied to the chair too?” he asks Ben, reproachfully.

“Have you ever tried to read someone’s mind and hold them still at the same time?” Ben asks, defensive.

Lacking any significant mental defenses, Hux had taken to lashing out physically at Ben every time the latter tried to slip into his mind. It was desperate and a little stupid, and he couldn’t possibly hope to keep it up for any length of time, but in the short term, Ben had found it a remarkably effective defense. Teeth digging into his arm or hands ripping out his hair broke his concentration pretty quick.

“This isn’t how the Resistance treats prisoners.” Poe says. “We’ve got to be better than them.”

“You can untie him if you want.” Ben waves a hand, dismissive. He waits until Poe leans over Hux and Ben hears him rustling around with the knot on the coil of wire he had wrapped around Hux and the chair. “He might bite you, though.”

Poe chuckles like he thinks he’s joking.

Just before the door closes behind him, Ben hears a sharp yelp of pain.


End file.
